Beowulf Comentary

Julian Teeple
Ms. Peifer
English 10 IB
December 13, 2008
Important passage from Beowulf
“‘Now that I have bartered my last breath to own this fortune, it is up to you to look after their needs. I can hold out no longer. Order my troops to construct a barrow on a headland on the coast, after my pyre has cooled. It will loom on the horizon at Hronesness and a reminder among my people- so that in coming times crews under sail will call it Beowulf’s Barrow, as they steer ships across the wide and shrouded waters.’
Then the king in his great-heartedness unclasped the collar of gold from his neck and gave it to the young thane, telling him to use it and the warshirt and the gilded helmet well.
‘You are the last of us, the only one left of the Waegmundings. Fate swept us away, sent my whole brave high-born clan to their final doom. Now I must follow them.’ That was the warrior’s last word. “
These are the final words of Beowulf in the epic of the same name. The translator, Seamus Haney, uses many different literary devices to make the epic more compelling. He uses alliteration to emphasize major plot points and action sequences. He also uses a different word scheme and choice then if someone else was writing it. These devices, and the storytelling and event points featured in this short 19 lines of text come together to create a passage with meaning to the work as a whole. The depictions of the events are very folk hero like, thus reinforcing the already apparent theme of folk lore.
Word use and vocabulary are very important to the way this work flows. In any other part of less importance, the translator could have used “breathing” instead of the way he describes it as bartering. Bartering, or trading, gives the reader the idea that Beowulf truly did beat the odds. He, even in his death, was honorable. The simple use of “bartered” for talking about his last breath of air makes all the difference in an epic of this epic proportion.
Alliteration is also used by Seamus Haney to emphasize action and characters. After Beowulf is describing how he wants to be remembered, Haney uses “Beowulf’s Barrow” to talk about the place. This shows that the resting place is important and how honor and burial are important to their society, and only a true hero like Beowulf would be worthy of such on honor.
The translation from Old English to modern day brought about the loss of a lot of the original alliteration and the kennings, but the devices used by Seamus Haney more then make up for it. Without the work her did with the literature, it would not have meant the same, and without the word choice and phrasing of his work, the passage sited at the beginning would not carry the same weight. This is the passage of an epic hero, his journey from life to the afterlife, and without the description used by Seamus Haney and the clever words, it would not carry the same impact. In the tale, the Danes lose a great hero, and in the way Beowulf was translated, we feel like we do too.


Damn, it didn't save the formatting this time. Shoot.